The 1990's decade has been marked by a societal technological revolution driven by the convergence of the data processing industry with the consumer electronics industry. This advance has been even further accelerated by the extensive consumer and business involvement in the internet over the past two years. As a result of these changes, it seems as if virtually all aspects of human endeavor in the industrialized world requires human computer interfaces. As a result of these profound changes, there is a need to make computer directed activities accessible to a substantial portion of the world's population which, up to a year or two ago, was computer illiterate, or at best computer indifferent. In order for the vast computer supported market places to continue and be commercially productive, it will be necessary for a large segment of computer indifferent consumers to be involved in computer interfaces. Thus, the challenge of our technology is to create interfaces to computers which are as close to the real world as possible.
One major market for user friendly computer controlled display interfaces has been in the selection and delivery of a variety of electronic media presentations which is part of the multimedia marketplace. In the media presentation product fields, it is very important to provide viewers or users with on-screen controls for making and editing various media presentations. These controls must be easy to use. As the functions available to interactive display users to control electronic media increases, the complexity of the display screens would be expected to increase. The display interface technology is continually seeking new implementations which simplify display interfaces in order to offset the increased complexity brought about by increased function.